Connecting the dots on Bush's book club

Glenn Greenwald has an expansive post (well worth reading) about W's "book club." This is the same meeting that I posted on the other day. It seems, from reading Greenwald that this is nothing but a meeting of the neocon usual suspects. The fact that Bush reads a book by a conservative anglophile about history somehow makes him appear well-read to people like Mark Steyn. It's astonishing that, as a sort of follow-up Karl Rove invites over some neocons (Greenwald has a fairly comprehensive list) and makes sure Bush has learned the right lessons from the book.

I wonder what would happen if some slipped, oh, say, Manufacturing Consent into the dust jacket of the next paean to imperialism that is tossed into Bush's lap. It would take something like that, it seems, to break up these exercises in group-think.

Bush's Doctrine of Infallibility?

Maybe I'm overstating it, but David Kaiser reports on a conversation that Bush had with historian Andrew Roberts:

"The president confided to Roberts that he believes he has an advantage over Churchill, a reliable source with access to the conversation told me. He has faith in God, Bush explained, but Churchill, an agnostic, did not. Because he believes in God, it is easier for him to make decisions and stick to them than it was for Churchill."

While Christianity does promise believers quite a bit (eternal life, et cetera) I was unaware of any scripture or church tradition that says believers have an easier time making decisions or that the decisions believers make in their jobs are inherently more likely to be correct. Of the many consolations offered by religion, I am not aware that "making decision is easy" has ever been one of them.